


Red Monarch

by AvaCelt



Series: Angst & Fluff Prompt Fills - 2020 [2]
Category: Black Clover - Tabata Yuki (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Future Fic, Gen, Platonic Female/Male Relationships, Reminiscing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-16
Updated: 2020-08-16
Packaged: 2021-03-06 04:41:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 950
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25937581
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AvaCelt/pseuds/AvaCelt
Summary: A decade after gaining Rouge, the prodigal daughter returns home. [platonic VaneFin & platonic VaneYami, future!fic]
Relationships: Vanessa Enoteca & Finral Roulacase, Vanessa Enoteca & Yami Sukehiro
Series: Angst & Fluff Prompt Fills - 2020 [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1882438
Kudos: 14





	Red Monarch

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: **Well in case you still accept them: “At least I’m with you.” from the prompt ask for Finral & Vanessa (platonic, cuz I support a healthy male-female friendship!)**

“At least I'm with you,” Finral declared, pumping a fist in the air. Within seconds, the embarrassment settled in and he quickly brought his arm down. He gave Vanessa a sheepish smile.

“You don't have to do this,” she said with a small tilt of his lips. “I'm perfectly capable of going alone. After all, I'm just looking. I'm sure the Queen... will be busy with other things.” Vanessa finished awkwardly.

“But you don't have to go alone!” Finral hissed anxiously. “I know you have Rouge now, but it's still her territory! At least take Charmy!”

“Why, so she can eat all the snacks?” Vanessa winked. Finral, as usual, blushed deeply and began to fumble with his words. Vanessa felt unease settle in her chest, watching Finral try and form words when embarrassment, anxiety, hesitation, and existential dread bombarded him all at once.

When she saw him get too red for his own good, she put a gloved hand on his shoulder and squeezed gently. He began to calm down with the gesture. Soon, he was sullenly looking at the ground while Vanessa patted the floof that was his thick, brown hair.

“It's an open house,” Vanessa repeated, “and I am a guest, just like all the other witches. I'm sure I can handle any gossipy witches who're wondering why I've decided to make an appearance at a house showing.”

Finral pouted but ultimately relented. He raised his head and looked fiercely into her eyes. “Just promise you'll send us hourly updates!”

“I won't,” Vanessa said casually, “because that's invasive and, quite frankly, rude.”

“You know Captain Yami's planning to follow you, right?” He retorted with a haughty sniff. Vanessa felt like flicking his forehead but let the younger man continue his rambling. “He's gonna camp out a mile or so away from the border under the guise of hunting. I don't know why he's going with that story when we have enough meat to last us through the month, but he is, and I support it!”

Vanessa sighed, but smiled nonetheless. “And I'm assuming you'll be accompanying him since I won't be taking you along?”

Finral didn't deny it. “Yes!”

Vanessa couldn't help but chuckle, Rouge meowing contently on her shoulder. “As long as you stay out of my way.” She turned around and began walking away, preparing her broom for flight.

“Vanessa!” Finral called. “I'm still with you, no matter what! Just call, and I'll be there!”

Vanessa didn't turn around. Instead, she gave him a single thumbs-up before boarding her broom and taking off.

It was several hours into her flight before the reality finally dawned on her that she was entering the Witches' Forest out of her own volition, and without a cost. Her heart hammered in her chest. Rouge sensed her unease and curled against her chest. She didn't know she was crying until she saw droplets fall into Rouge's soft fur.

There was no cure to be found, no deal to be bargained with the reigning monarch. Vanessa was simply looking for a house she could spend her summers in when the missions weren't rough and the land was quieter. It didn't have to be a big house, just one comfortable enough to house her and maybe some of the Black Bulls when they came to visit. The Witches' Forest had eased its restrictions, but neither men nor women of non-Witch origins were allowed into the Forest unless accompanied by a native. Vanessa thought her identity had been stripped away from her the day she chose to follow Yami, but it seemed, after all these years, no amount of running could take the Forest from a witch's heart.

She was just looking. A little house tucked into one of the great trees, a ladder for stairs when she didn't feel like flying, maybe a grill out back so she could barbecue meat in her underwear and day drink in content – a home. After all these years, she wanted one of her own. Perhaps age had finally settled into her bones.

She sniffled, wiped her eyes, and gave the horizon a watery smile. She felt the tell-tale thrum of Finral and Yami's magic. They'd hung back far enough in the beginning that she hadn't sensed them, but now that she was nearing her homeland, the power in her fingertips hummed and Rouge hummed along with it.

Fate, at the end of the day, was hers to dictate. Vanessa had chosen her own path, and Rouge had come from those choices. At the end of the day, what happened was what Vanessa _let_ happen. Long ago, she'd left those decisions up to the Queen, and to some extent, to Yami as well. But now, if she wanted, she could easily slip out of Finral and Yami's range and go elsewhere. She could spook them, or maybe she could continue onwards and let them camp out in the forest outside the Witches' territory while she finished viewing one of the many houses she planned to visit over the next few weeks. At the end of the day, the choice was hers, and no one could take that away from her – not anymore.

Rouge purred and she snuggled the magick creature. When she looked up and saw the tell-tale signs of the great forest emerge, she smiled softly. She upped her speed as she entered the Witches' domain. From a distance, she heard Finral and Yami balk and crash into a tree. She giggled to herself while Rouge purred cheekily. Nothing broken, but at least it would teach the little men a lesson for bothering a witch on her own territory.

The gates emerged and Vanessa went home.

* * *


End file.
